Composer-in-Residence

Saad Haddad (b. 1992) is a composer that achieves a “remarkable fusion of idioms” (New York Times), most notably in his work exploring the disparate qualities inherent in Western art music and Middle Eastern musical tradition.

Recent commissions include a piano concerto for IRCAM and the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France; a clarinet concerto for Kinan Azmeh and the Princeton Symphony; an orchestral work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic; a mixed octet for the International Contemporary Ensemble; a wind quintet for the Imani Winds; and two string quartets for the Lydian and Callisto Quartets.

Mr. Haddad’s orchestral works have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Symphony in C, Hangzhou Philharmonic, UCLA Philharmonia, USC Thornton Symphony, and the symphony orchestras of Albany, Columbus, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Princeton, and Sioux City. He has also received performances by the JACK Quartet, Locrian Chamber Players, Tanglewood Music Festival, and Utah Arts Festival, and his works have been performed abroad in China, Brazil, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, South Korea, Austria, Sweden, and Canada.

He is the recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Barlow Endowment General Commission, S&R Foundation Washington Award Grand Prize, Jerome Fund for New Music grant from the American Composers Forum, Palmer Dixon Award from The Juilliard School, Aaron Copland Residency Award, and multiple awards from ASCAP, BMI, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir. He has been in residence at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Ucross Foundation, Bogliasco Foundation, Studios of Key West, Soundstreams Composer Workshop, and the Luzerne Music Center. He is currently the 2023-2026 Young American Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony.

Saad Haddad holds degrees from Columbia University, Juilliard, and the University of Southern California. He currently serves as the California Symphony’s 2024-2026 Composer-in-Residence. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and their two dogs, Ivy, a miniature dachshund, and Kala, a labrador/retriever mix.

Learn more about the Composer-in-Residence program and alumni